A Letter from Founder & President, Blake Donovan

To those who may be interested in learning more about the origin of the Sunflower Seed Foundation (SSF), I write this letter to you. The following is indicative of my own personal path to starting the SSF, what motivates me to continue, and the Sunflower Seed Foundation’s respect of all faiths without laying claim to a belief system for itself – and why that is valuable to our mission.

I understand that some may question why I, personally, am undertaking an endeavor to provide encouragement and professional development opportunities for women, specifically women from a country to which I do not have any lineage or cultural ties. To those that ask, I say thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer.

The unexpected concept of the SSF came to me while I was finishing my college career. I was a part of a group of film students that had the opportunity to travel to Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to create two short films. My school was associated with a professor at a local women’s university in the city of Jeddah, and so we produced these short films in close collaboration with a group of current and former female film students. One woman specifically stood out to me, even during pre-production in the weeks leading up to the trip. Specifically, it was her work ethic. Up to that time, either justly or in my own partisan estimation of myself, I had not found someone whose work ethic I felt matched my own. Yet there she was, working long hours and achieving such results that, without her, entire scenes would have never been filmed. In addition, the more I worked with her the more I saw how kind her heart was along with the great aspirations she had for her career, which I found to be not so different from my own dreams.

Frankly, I was a bit in awe of her, which set the stage for it to be all the more heart breaking when I learned she had been crying on the night of our film’s premier. In the midst of an evening intended to celebrate her accomplishments, she had received a call from a loved one who, to my understanding, loved her but did not support her professional dreams and choice of career. She then told me of other road blocks that she had also faced, some that she has since overcome and others that still stand before her.

For over a year and a half following this experience, I was unable to shake the heart break I felt from what she had told me. As I reached out to other friends, colleagues, and advisors from Saudi, I learned that these difficulties were not so much unique to her as they were to women like her who were pursuing a career in film. It was this – this personal experience accompanied by similar testimonies – that inspired me to start the Sunflower Seed Foundation. That is also the explanation as to why our target demographic is so specific. We aim to validate and inspire the talents and dreams of female filmmakers from Saudi Arabia because of this woman, and many like her, who inspired me and those who accompanied me in the creation of the SSF.

Around the same time, I found myself positioned to try and construct a bridge from the United States film industry to the Saudi film industry. I had just moved to Los Angeles, California, and begun my professional career. I have been blessed over the course of the last three years to serve multiple roles and functions: I have been a production assistant, a writer’s assistant, a production coordinator facilitating payments of sums in the millions of dollars, a writer for over one hundred minutes of short form content, a story editor for two episodes of globally released animated content, and even a short song writer (which was most likely a fluke, to be honest). I have also held associate producer responsibilities providing creative notes across the entire animation process of a 44 minute special released to Disney+. With all of that, I saw an opportunity where I could form connections between both industries to bring people together from two far away places, and it could be facilitated in such a way as to honor and benefit the talented and determined women of Saudi Arabia that were pursuing the career of their dreams.

Now there is one more detail that, at first glance, some may note when calling into question why someone like me would create a non-profit that aims to benefit a demographic that is, basically if not exclusively, Muslim. That detail is my Christian faith in Jesus Christ. While there are core details that mark the Christian and Islamic faiths as separate belief systems, I have not yet found that it separates us as human beings. Truly I take heart and find joy in personally knowing others from around the world, Muslims and Christians alike, who are living their lives in holy pursuit of devotion to a higher power for a higher purpose.

In a respectful desire to understand the foundational basis of the lives of those who I intend to serve through the SSF, I have read the Quran in full, many Hadith, as well as other texts. I have had wonderful conversations with Muslim friends about prophets, values, and ethics that both faiths share, and I have seen God’s unmistakeable work both in my life and in the lives of these very same Muslim friends.

It is my personal belief that God has called me to start the SSF and I have seen His blessings every step of the way. I believe God has given me the gift of love to care about my brothers and sisters of different faiths, as well as the gift of encouragement to shine a light on the talents of the women we serve while we are their cheerleaders as they pursue their dreams. In that way, my work is dedicated to God in the exercising of the gifts He has bestowed upon me.

With all of that being said, the only way that the Sunflower Seed Foundation will serve as a positive and unifying force is for it to be an entity that respects and finds value in the different faiths of all who are involved but remains independent of any particular faith. That is why the SSF has always had, and will continue to have in the future, leaders of different faiths, such as Christians, Muslims, and others. It is my assumption that each of these individuals will most likely, within their hearts and souls, submit their work to the God they serve or the principles they most uphold. I believe that is a wonderful thing and will serve to motivate each person to work their hardest toward our singular and unified goal, under the universal principle of loving others, to support the female filmmakers of Saudi Arabia.

I close in reference to a word from a man of renown in both Muslim and Christian faiths, the words of Jesus, who said that a tree is recognized by its fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. One does not need to take the Sunflower Seed Foundation at its word, but rather should examine our words and actions over time and determine if the fruit we bear is good. If the fruit is good, then the tree is good. May we always strive to exercise wisdom to produce good fruit that loves, unifies, and uplifts all people of all faiths.

Sincerely,
Blake Donovan